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Aimed at advanced undergraduates, this self-contained textbook covers the key ideas of special and general relativity together with their applications.

The textbook introduces students to basic geometric concepts, such as metrics, connections and curvature, before examining general relativity in more detail. It shows the observational evidence supporting the theory, and the description general relativity provides of black holes and cosmological spacetimes.

Relativity, Gravitation and Cosmology provides the essential background for an up-to-date discussion of modern observational cosmology. Each chapter builds on the previous one as concepts are developed, making it ideal for self-study.

"The author team has done a great job of producing a text suitable for upper level undergrads and even first year astronomy graduate students. The graphics are very good and I particularly appreciate the concise chapter summaries and the exercises with solutions. Students will love this text. I will definitely use it in my upper division classes." Professor John Huchra, Harvard University

"The presentation of special and general relativity is remarkably clear, with explicit derivations and explanations accompanied by useful and relevant exercises. This text strikes a nice balance between theory and applications and does a commendable job of bringing undergraduates up to speed on a challenging topic. I highly recommend this text for a first undergraduate course in general relativity." Dr Jeremy Darling, University of Colorado

'The author has done a great job of producing a text suitable for upper level undergrads and even first year graduate students. The graphics are very good and I particularly appreciate the concise chapter summaries and the exercises with solutions. Students will love this text. I will definitely use it in my upper division classes.' John Huchra, Harvard University 'The presentation of special and general relativity is remarkably clear, with explicit derivations and explanations accompanied by useful and relevant exercises. This text strikes a nice balance between theory and applications and does a commendable job of bringing undergraduates up to speed on a challenging topic. I highly recommend it for a first undergraduate course in general relativity.' Jeremy Darling, University of Colorado 'It is the few books intended for physics undergraduates with which [this] volume should be compared, and it comes out with flying colours ... This is an excellent volume which can be highly recommended for an introductory course on general relativity and I hope will have the effect of increasing understanding of this most beautiful and striking creation of twentieth-century physics.' Contemporary Physics